Meaning of suspension of disbelief | Babel Free

Definitions

The acceptance of people, for the sake of appreciation of art (including literature and the like), of what they know to be a nonfactual premise of the work of art.

uncountable, usually

Equivalents

Examples

“In science fiction films, suspension of disbelief is essential.”

“On the other hand, Chikamatsu could induce a suspension of disbelief with the same means, thus producing an effect of reality within basic unreality. (The suspension of disbelief is, of course, nothing new to Western audiences.)”

“All films require "suspension of disbelief" to work effectively. And every film creates its own unspoken rules to accomplish this.”

“Characters are either rich, comfortable, or struggling, but we rarely know how rich, how comfortable, or how much they struggle in concrete-enough terms to relate to. Money is involved in every important decision in one’s life; TV characters simply frown at a bank statement or gasp at a hidden figure on a piece of paper. The topic of money requires the most awkward suspension of disbelief in fiction.”

CEFR level